Leaders
for tomorrow
Talentor Header

Talentor UK - England & Wales - Collingwood Executive Search

Since being established in 2005, Collingwood has been focused on building long term partnerships with aspirational clients. These clients range from SMEs to large international corporate businesses and all want to invest in Collingwood as their Trusted Partners for Executive Search and Leadership Development. Our clients love our resilience, relentless and innovative approach to delivering success for them whether that be to recruit an outstanding Leader, Senior Manager or Specialist role or, indeed, help them become more effective through Leadership Development & Coaching.

About us

Collingwood is a friendly and down to earth team who enjoy constantly pushing each other to improve, develop, and delight their clients. Repeat business is one of their key objectives and around 75% of the company revenue every year comes from repeat clients with 99% of all their clients returning at some point. Around a further 20% comes from current clients referring them to help their network recruit senior roles.

Working with the right clients is critical to Collingwood success, as they work hard to ensure that they work with like-minded clients who want to collaborate with their team to solve their recruitment problems.

The values that are practiced by all members of the Collingwood team and that we believe are important to highlight are accountability, integrity, innovation, and listening, always working towards the company vision and purpose.

Talentor UK Collingwood Team Profile Picture
Talentor UK Collingwood Team Profile Picture 2

Our partners and team

Talentor UK Collingwood Team Doug Mackay
Managing Director

Having started his career in Executive Search in 1998, Doug set up Collingwood in 2005 alongside his wife, Claire Mackay.

Doug has a BA (Hons) in Business Studies but specialised in marketing and French. His degree involved spending a year in France with Xerox which is where Claire worked and where he says love started.

At the beginning Doug didn’t actually choose a career in Executive Search, he applied for a sales role back in 1998 via an Executive Search firm in Warrington. They then called to discuss him joining their graduate scheme instead and that’s where it all began!

Collingwood was set up in 2005 and has gone through several transformations to create and shape the strong team they have now. Doug led their sales and marketing strategy and has worked hard to develop a portfolio of aspirational clients who align with Collingwood values and with whom they love partnering.

Talentor UK Collingwood Team Claire Mackay
Operations & Finance Director
Having set up Collingwood alongside Doug Mackay 16 years ago, Claire has been part of the business since day 1. After graduating with a degree in International Management and Frenc... More

Having set up Collingwood alongside Doug Mackay 16 years ago, Claire has been part of the business since day 1.

After graduating with a degree in International Management and French from the University of Bath, Claire originally worked in purchasing for Kimberly-Clark before moving to BICC. She later chose to take a career break to raise her children. It was the setting up of Collingwood with Doug that gave her the opportunity to work again and shape something from scratch, whilst maintaining a balance in terms of family and work.

Her work involves ensuring the company's operations and processes are best in class, looking at continuous improvement in terms of client and candidate experience, as well as managing the finances within the business.

Talentor UK Collingwood Team Mark Goldsmith
Head of Sector – Building Products & Construction
Mark has 23 years of recruitment experience under his belt and has been with Collingwood since 2012. With having spent the last 19 years focused on Building Products & Construc... More

Mark has 23 years of recruitment experience under his belt and has been with Collingwood since 2012. With having spent the last 19 years focused on Building Products & Construction, he manages this unit at Collingwood. He also gets involved in operationally led, manufacturing clients.

Having finished Sports Exercise Science, he commenced a degree in Human Biology. He later chose a career in Executive Search as Mark wanted to help people. He still gets a satisfactory buzz when he receives great feedback from a client and believes this is why he is able to build strong understandings with them. Mark also has a mini-MBA and certificate in Prince project management.

Talentor UK Collingwood Team Sarah Jones
Operations Manager
Initially drawn to Collingwood’s values and ethos, Sarah joined Collingwood in January 2019 as the businesses Client Services and Business Support Executive. She has since moved i... More

Initially drawn to Collingwood’s values and ethos, Sarah joined Collingwood in January 2019 as the businesses Client Services and Business Support Executive.

She has since moved into the role of an Operations Manager, where she works on developing Collingwood’s processes and procedures to drive continuous improvement, enabling the business to service their clients in the best possible way, whilst also supporting Collingwood's consultants to manage their workloads and maximise their time.

Talentor UK Collingwood Team Chris Mayers
Executive Search Delivery Consultant
Chris joined Collingwood in June 2024 as an Executive Search Delivery Consultant, helping to find talent for our clients particularly within the Technology sector. He has close to ... More

Chris joined Collingwood in June 2024 as an Executive Search Delivery Consultant, helping to find talent for our clients particularly within the Technology sector. He has close to 8 years of experience in recruitment, mostly within the Technology sector with a few other areas working with Sales professionals as well. Chris’ career started out working in a fast-paced contingent model but he has since pivoted to executive search where he has partnered with several leading businesses, globally. Like many, Chris “fell into recruitment” and it has been something that he has always been thankful for.

Talentor UK Collingwood Team Callum Pepler
Executive Search Resourcer
Callum has been at Collingwood since November 2021 as an Executive Search Resourcer, helping to find potential talent for consultants in several different industries including tech... More

Callum has been at Collingwood since November 2021 as an Executive Search Resourcer, helping to find potential talent for consultants in several different industries including technology, building products and construction, and healthcare.

He studied for his degree in Sports Coaching at Leeds Beckett University and has since worked in several different industries, including teaching (sports coaching), marketing and hospitality. He stands out for being a people person who enjoys working in something that helps fix people/companies problems.

Talentor UK Collingwood Team Poppy Rathbone
Executive Search Resourcer
Poppy joined Collingwood as an Executive Search Resourcer, supporting their Executive Consultants in finding the best available talent. Coming from a personal banking background sh... More

Poppy joined Collingwood as an Executive Search Resourcer, supporting their Executive Consultants in finding the best available talent. Coming from a personal banking background she has extensive customer service experience.

Talentor UK Collingwood Team Sara Limam
Business Support Executive
Sara joined the Collingwood team in June 2021 as a Business Administration Apprentice and now works as the company’s Business Support Executive. She supports everyone in the team a... More

Sara joined the Collingwood team in June 2021 as a Business Administration Apprentice and now works as the company’s Business Support Executive. She supports everyone in the team and ensures that the procedures and processes are carried out to a high standard in order to provide clients and candidates with the best experience possible.

Talentor UK Collingwood Team Euan Mackay
Business Support Associate
Euan joined Collingwood in June 2024 as a Business Support Associate. He is working a dual role, supporting our team with all things research and marketing. Euan is also completing... More

Euan joined Collingwood in June 2024 as a Business Support Associate. He is working a dual role, supporting our team with all things research and marketing. Euan is also completing a Leadership and Business Management Degree with Aston University, allowing him to develop his knowledge and further support the team in an effective way.

Our Services

  • Talentor Services 1 Executive Search

    An exceptional solution for securing top talent for leadership positions.

  • Talentor Services 2 Professional Search

    Talentor’s recruitment service has placed many of the world’s leading professionals.

Insights from a global network

Doug Mackay —
March 2024

Unlock Your Career Potential: Download Collingwood's Job Seekers Guide Today!

Are you ready to take the next step in your career journey? Are you tired of your current role, bored and lack enthusiasm? Or is your employer not meeting your expectations? If you are wanting to find that ideal new role in a great company who can offer you much more than your current employer,…
We are very pleased to strengthen our presence in UK! Doug Mackay is the Managing Director of Collingwood Executive Search, a boutique Executive Search & Leadership Development consultancy that joins Talentor to cover the England and Wales market complementing and joining forces with our other…

Talentor Expands to the United Kingdom

Talentor is jumping into the dynamic hidden champion in the British economy with a fast-growing partner. Get to know Denholm Associates in this conversation with Director Douglas Cross.
Portal Business Park, Eaton Lane 4
CW6 9DL Tarporley
United Kingdom